Category Archives: Other

It’s that time of year again. Today is the first day of the NBA Playoffs.

This has been one of the best regular seasons of all-time and the ending was movie-worthy. From Kobe’s 60 points in Los Angeles to Steph Curry and the Warriors breaking the single season wins record in The Bay.

Well now it’s playoff time and the competitiveness will be at its peak every night.

So with all of this excitement surrounding this year’s playoffs I couldn’t just make my predictions alone. I had to recruit two of the greatest sports mind’s of this century: Derrik Neal and Weston Washington.

Well that’s why it’s called MARCH MADNESS! All this tournament does is make you mad!

Every year people fill out a bracket in hopes that they know more about college basketball than everybody else. It’s hilarious watching people try to guess at who’s going to win the championship.

According to Brent Radcliffe of Investopedia, “To calculate the total number of ways to fill out a bracket take the total number of possible outcomes for each game (2) and multiply it out 63 times: 2 x 2 x 2….x 2, or 2^63. The odds come in at one in over nine quintillion.”

That’s insane. There should literally never be any perfect brackets.

So if you’re upset that Michigan St. lost in the first round just think.. the odds of you having a perfect bracket were one in nine quintillion.

MY BRACKET:

In my bracket I have North Carolina winning it all over Oklahoma. While I had Michigan St. in my Final Four, I still have three of my final four in tact. UNC, OU, & KU.

SWEET 16:

Be on the look-out for the Season 2 Finale of The J. Bright Show Tomorrow!

I picked all of the lower seeds and it paid off. Chiefs, Steelers, Seahawks, and Packers all advanced to the divisional round.

Then if you tuned in to the J. Bright Show last week, then you heard my divisional round picks, where I picked all the “Over-dogs.” (The opposite of under-dogs.) Broncos, Patriots, Panthers, and Cardinals all advanced to the Conference Championship round.

So here we are.. in the final Championship round. Patriots vs. Broncos and Cardinals vs. Panthers. The top-4 teams in the league record-wise this year. So although it’s only two games to pick, this week will be a little tougher.

The New England vs. Denver game is an interesting one with a ton of storylines, but none more intriguing than the Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning battle. The playoff-series between the two currently sits split at 2-2. Brady seems to be in rare form, while Manning has recently looked a little better, but it’s obvious he isn’t the same Peyton Manning anymore. His mind for the game is still there but his arm has left him. But still, with Denver’s amazing defense you can’t count the Bronco’s out just analyzing the quarterback battle. But if I’ve learned anything over the years picking NFL games, it’s that you can’t go against “The Greatness.” Tom Brady will somehow find a way to win this game and the Patriots will move on to the next round. I’ll be rooting for the Bronco’s (only because I love Wade Phillips and he should still be the Cowboys coach), but I just see the Patriots taking this one in hopefully a close game.

As for the Arizona vs. Carolina game, this one will come down to one simple thing, “The Cam Newton Factor.” Cam is on a mission this year to prove he’s the best quarterback in the league. He’s not shy of the moment (National Champion at Auburn) and I think he’ll have his best game of the playoffs in this game. The Panthers learned last week against Seattle that once you get a lead, you can’t just sit on the ball and hope the other team doesn’t score. Because if they do that again this week then Arizona, having a better offense than Seattle, will beat them. So I think they’ve learned their lesson and Carolina is going to go out there and score a lot of points on a beat up Arizona defense. It’s hopefully going to be a shootout and another close game (because I love close games) but I just don’t feel that Arizona will be able to stop Carolina’s rushing attack and that will open up the passing game for Cam Newton to shine. Carolina will win this game.

Well there you have it. My picks for this week. Hopefully I’ll be 100% going into the Super Bowl.

Every game this weekend could be an upset. None of the division winners looked that strong in the regular season.

In the playoffs the play of the quarterback decides most games. That’s why they get paid the big bucks.

KC vs. HOU: Kansas City’s quarterback Alex Smith has the upper hand against Houston. Houston has been looking for a quarterback ever since they ruined David Carr’s career. While Brian Hoyer is a capable quarterback in this league, he won’t win you any playoff games.

Now if they would’ve stuck with Brandon Weeden then maybe Houston would have a shot. People need to quit sleeping on Brandon Weeden. He’s not that bad.

PIT vs. CIN: Not much to be said about this matchup. Big Ben vs. AJ McCarron. I’m taking Big Ben every time in that matchup. Pittsburgh’s league leading six Super Bowl titles vs. the one-and-done Cincinnati boys. I’m taking the battle-proven Steelers in this one.

SEA vs. MIN: Last years NFC champion Seahawks looked eerily similar to this year’s Seahawks. The defense is back to its elite status and Russell Wilson is playing lights out. While Minnesota is a good up and coming team, I don’t see how the Vikings offense will do anything against this Seattle defense. Seattle will win this one easily.

GB vs. WAS: Aaron Rodgers is saving his best for last. While he had a sub-par season to his standards, Rodgers will play better on Sunday and carve up the Washington secondary. Washington is very confident but deep down they know they shouldn’t be in the playoffs. They won a pathetic division this year and I would’ve picked against any team coming out of the NFC East not named the Dallas Cowboys.

***SPOILERS!!! IF FOR SOME REASON YOU HAVEN’T BOUGHT THE GAME YET AND YOU’RE READING A REVIEW ABOUT IT, I WILL SPOIL SOME OF THE FUN FOR YOU IN THIS REVIEW. I WON’T REVEAL ANYTHING ABOUT THE MYCAREER STORYLINE BUT I WILL TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE NEWEST FEATURES OF MYCAREER. IF YOU LIKE BEING SURPRISED WITH EVERY ASPECT OF A NEW GAME, AS I DO, THEN STOP READING THIS. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.***

INTRO

First things first let’s talk about the intro.

This might be the best intro 2K has done since 2K12. The graphics don’t look like the 2K graphics but that’s a part of the appeal. It catches your eye and takes you into a different world for a second. Then towards the end when you’ve defeated all four bosses, it turns back into 2K graphics and it all makes sense. Once you’ve defeated your inner demons then you can conquer the rest of the NBA. Good intro.

MAIN MENU

They updated the 2K Main Menu this year. It’s similar to last year but this year it seems more accessible. It doesn’t force you to watch 2KTV at the menu screen. Even though I don’t mind seeing Rachel every now and then, i’d rather have a choice when I watch her show.

GAMEPLAY

The graphics look a little different this year. It’s hard to improve on the best graphics in sports video games but 2K does its best to make the game look even better. The crowd is much more animated and real looking, the players are less boxy and have real life-like builds, the faces are mostly all correct, and the attention to detail is crazy. From the cheerleaders to the player intros, this game is a step up in all aspects. One thing I dislike though is the addition of Kenny Smith to the 2K sports team. Where’s Charles??? No one wants to watch Kenny. He’s only good when Charles is there. Shaq is hard to understand and now with Kenny you get all the “other” people from the TNT crew. Charles is the star. It’s time to bring him into the game.

The player animations are spot on. They do everything they would do in a real game. The game-time animations are on point as well. The player to player contact is so realistic and the shot timing is a lot quicker this year but I like it. It helps for pull-ups and off-the-dribble shots. Makes sense because Steph is on the cover. It has a very Steph Curry feel this year. The game is a lot more free flowing. Last year the game was very technical and it was hard to pull off a lot of moves and at times the game wasn’t that fun. But it seems like this year they put the FUN back in FUNDAMENTALS.

MYTEAM

I haven’t really played this mode this year. But last year it was pretty fun. I’ll check it out and get back to you.

NBA2KTV

I love Rachel. She’s awesome. She’s beautiful and knows her sports. She knows her 2K and she’s athletic. Perfect host for a pretty cool show. This was one of the best features 2K added in recent years and it keeps getting better. Never get rid of Rachel, she’s awesome!

MYLEAGUE AND MYGM

I haven’t played much of MyGM but MyLeague is amazing. The biggest change they added was finally adding a relocation feature. So you can take any team and move them to mostly any city in the U.S. What’s even cooler is that you can change your teams brand very easily. Unlike Madden where they only give you a few choices, 2K lets you upload your own picture or design for a logo (or you can upload one from someone else online.) You apply that logo to your team and you can change the colors to whatever you want. Also you can change the arena to whatever you’d like. Change the floor, the stands, the scorers table, the jumbotron, literally everything you can imagine. Everything is completely customizable. You can do all this without relocating as well.

Everything else in the MyLeague is amazing as well but I want to focus on the draft. The lottery is a lot cooler this year in that each pick is shown and the animations are better. There is some commentary that helps you get more into the game as well. The draft itself looks a lot cooler too, the picks are more epic and it shows the player instead of just the name.

MYCAREER

Now this is the most fun feature on the game IMO. From the jump Spike Lee shows you how he did MyCareer and the process of putting yourself into the game. He shows the actors behind the scenes and their MoCap suits (motion capture suits). I won’t spoil too much about the game but here is the opening scene of MyCareer so you can get a gist of what I’m talking about. The rest you’ll have to see for yourself.

2KPROAM & ONLINE PLAY

I haven’t got to check out these features yet either but I sure hope they fixed the online glitch. The servers are always terrible.

Well there you have it. That’s my 2K first review. As the season progresses and I get further along in my MyCareer I’ll keep y’all posted.

I finally saw the movie Trainwreck earlier this week starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader. I know i’m late but that movie was worth the wait. I’m usually not one to enjoy a rom-com or Amy Schumer but this movie was quite hilarious. Without giving any spoilers, all i’ll say is.. Lebron James was clearly the funniest thing about this movie. He has a future in acting if he chooses to pursue it. He was in the movie a lot more than I thought he would be and every time he was on screen I was LOL’ing.

I said I wasn’t going to do it but, I bought Madden this week. There goes my free time. I was a little disappointed in last year’s Madden installment but this year has exceeded my expectations. The gameplay is so much smoother, the players actually make cuts resembling actual movements, and the new throwing and catching mechanics make the game actually playable. The franchise mode has made leaps and bounds in improvements as well. The best thing about it, is the speed in which you can simulate from week to week. Also the scouting is so much easier and more realistic. Madden 16 is a must buy.

I now have a new favorite TV show. The Carmichael Show on NBC. Jerrod Carmichael is an upcoming comedian and he already has his own show. You may have seen him in the movie Neighbors, he was the hilarious black gentleman. The show features the amazingly hot Amber Stevens West, the hilarious David Alan Grier, and the great Loretta Divine. The show deals with current events in the black community but has a funny sitcomy twist to it. (Yes I made up the word sitcomy.) Definitely check this out.

Check it out:

1. Watch The Carmichael Show

2. Buy Madden

3. Wait until it comes to Netflix and watch Trainwreck with your lady. She’ll enjoy it and you’ll get a kick out of it as well.

The purpose of this post was not to solely inform you on things I did this week but also things that are to come.

Coming soon:

Be sure to be on the lookout for my new vodcast, podcast, and written short series I have coming out very soon. All of these things have been in the works and I can’t wait to unveil them to you all.

Fantasy football is back!!! dun dun dun dun! Yes sir and yes mam. It’s back people. I broke a personal record last season and joined six different leagues. (More leagues, more chances to win.) The sad part is, I only won one of those leagues.

But that’s ok because this is a whole new year. And unlike last year, I’ll be narrowing down my teams to only three this season.

REACTIVATED

I’m one of those people who like to wait till the third or fourth week of preseason before drafting my team. I feel for those who already drafted Jordy Nelson or Kelvin Benjamin.

Team Names:

I’ve been struggling to come up with a cool name for my team this year. Last year my team name was Team Lightskin. I’ve only come up with one other name that I truly like so far, “Suge’s Dark Knights.” You know… like Suge Knight.. the gangsta from the Straight Outta Compton movie?! & The gangsta in real life… & I think I might photoshop a picture of his face with like a Batman mask over it. You know.. like the “Dark Knight?”

What do you think? Funny or nah?

If you have any other suggestions feel free to message me your ideas.

Big Board:

I know some of my competitors will be looking at my list but it doesn’t matter because I’m going to destroy every team in my path this year. So here’s my top five players at each position:

QB:

Aaron Rodgers

Andrew Luck

Ben Roethlisberger

Russell Wilson

Peyton Manning

Sleeper: Tom Brady – just keep in mind he’s suspended for the first four games of the season.

RB:

Jamaal Charles

Marshawn Lynch

Adrian Peterson

Eddie Lacy

Le’veon Bell (would be higher but suspended first two games of the season)